In a far, corner room of Clemson University's Daniel Hall, a group of students and faculty members are hunched over laptops, working from morning to night to make sure people are prepared for Hurricane Florence's arrival.

Clemson's Social Media Listening Center, founded in 2012, has partnered with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division to help monitor digital platforms and promote important messages across Facebook and Twitter throughout the storm.

The media center's partnership with emergency management began before Hurricane Florence, but the storm has given the team a chance to put their skills to the test.

From 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day, students in the social media center join Facebook groups to promote emergency management accounts, track trending hashtags, watch for Snapchat stories about price gouging, tap into influential people who can share content to a wider audience, and help direct people to reliable information online.

"When events like this happen, there are inevitably voices that aren't heard, and the people who are in official response positions don’t have the capacity to hear all of those voices," said Andrew Pyle, an assistant professor in Clemson's Department of Communication. "By tracking these conversations, we have the opportunity to amplify those voices to make sure the people in need are connected with the people who can help."

On Wednesday alone, the hurricane was mentioned over 1.1 million times on social media, making it difficult for the S.C. Emergency Management Division to broadcast its messages to the public.

Every two hours, the social media center has provided the division with updates on storm-related information being shared on social media.

In the past, the learning center has helped with projects ranging from medical research on renal disease to cyberbullying detection and election tracking. This is the first time the center has been engaged for a hurricane, Amanda Moore, associate director of the learning center, said.

Interns, students from Moore's creative inquiry course and students from Pyle's crisis communications course are working together in the center this week.

Kathryn Hull, a sophomore from Atlanta studying finance, has worked to answer questions about the storm on Twitter by replying to users with official documents. She has seen lots of inquiries about shelter locations and pets.

"It is interesting to see how other people are reacting to the storm and to be in the conversation instead of just scrolling past it," Hull said.

Katherine Cupp, a junior studying communications, has been searching Facebook to identify people's key questions during the storm and to categorize them by region and topic.

"I am surprised by how many people want to join groups and help," she said.

Clemson's Social Media Listening Center was founded in 2012.(Photo: Mollie R. Simon)

For individuals trying to use social media more effectively in an emergency, Moore offered a few tips.

First, use appropriate hashtags that have already gained traction. Then, be sure to tap into local conversations. For example, you can use "#chswx" to talk about weather in Charleston.

Finally, try to retweet official posts instead of creating your own.

"Even in the middle of a hurricane, everyone wants to go viral," Pyle said.

He sees people taking screenshots of images instead of retweeting official information. The latter option can help others verify the facts and find more context.

Pyle has also noticed parody accounts created during the storm — another reason he emphasizes promoting official content.

While some are turning to parody, a number of parody accounts that existed before the storm have stopped sharing their usual content and have committed to spreading useful information during Florence.

"One of the things during crisis communications is the difficulty to have the manpower to really listen to what is going on," said Stephen Combs, who handles media relations for Anderson County Emergency Management. He is working out of the social media center during the storm. "We have learned from so many of the national tragedies the importance of social media."